But just because I know you're almost as lazy as I am (), the answer is that you don't pay to upgrade after the first year if you've done it within the first year.

It's not that Windows 10 is free for the first year, it's the upgrade that is free for the first year. After that, if you want to upgrade to Windows 10 (because you didn't do it during the first year), you'll have to pay for it.

Heh so everyone can mark May 1 2016 (or so) on their calendars to be within the upgrade window, and by then more information will be available! And probably at least two minor horror stories! Go Microsoft!

But well before that, it feels like the July 29 release will be pretty bumpy. I'm def interested in the overall evolution of this version of Windows, but MS is kinda known to be rough at the seams with a big OS release.

Today the update advert ^ was installed on my laptop (and it won't exit), so I gave them my email address, because I expect this to be one way they will leave me in relative peace, until the end of July. The advert specifically said that the upgrade to '10' would only be free for a limited period of time: [advert]*Yes, free. This limited time upgrade offer is for a full version of Windows 10,[/advert] It will be interesting to see what they actually mean. Also, I am anxious to see how Cortana, the Personal Digital Assistant, will work. If it works like I fear, I will also like to know if it can be killed and buried. Otherwise I may have to learn how to use Linux, Mac or whatever. I am scared of Cortana!

Today the update advert ^ was installed on my laptop (and it won't exit), so I gave them my email address, because I expect this to be one way they will leave me in relative peace, until the end of July.

Also, I am anxious to see how Cortana, the Personal Digital Assistant, will work. If it works like I fear, I will also like to know if it can be killed and buried. Otherwise I may have to learn how to use Linux, Mac or whatever. I am scared of Cortana!

By the way, I am sure PC/hardware manufacturers are thrilled MS is giving people reason to keep their current systems

I'm sure most companies will simply upgrade all their old stock to Windows 10 and try sell it as something new and fantastic to people who don't have a clue

-that's what 'they' did to me some years ago: "This is a new computer", they said. No, it wasn't, it was an old computer with some updated parts. Unfortunately it took me so loooong time to understand how I was cheated, that the shop no longer existed.

An exasperating aspect of the Windows OSes is that they may include features that seem to be a designer's idea of "what we are going to like" (or more often, "what the marketing people say we are gong to be obliged to accept, whether we actually like it or not") - for example, a case in point being all the redundant Metro/Win8 interface rubbish - fortunately mostly easily fixed by installing The Classic Shell and disabling most of the useless/redundant aspects of the interface.

We aren't really given much option with these force-fed but potentially unwanted/unneeded features, which sometimes/often appear to pay scant regard to ergonomics, and be all about so-called "new interface standards" or "modern tools" that we are going to be given for our own good. (Thus putting the many perfectly adequate "old tools" in a pejorative light as being "outmoded".)

So it really is a pleasure for me when I come across an example of some real effort being made by Microsoft to ensure that ergonomics may be - albeit belatedly - coming to the forefront in the OS' interface design criteria.Here is a really heartening example, relating to Win10:

Quote

Snap Assist (extracted from Arrange your Windows in a SnapOne of the most popular Aero Snap features in Windows 7 is the ability to drag windows to the left or right edges of the screen to resize them to half the screen. This allows you to choose any two windows and easily snap them side-by-side—a very handy feature when drafting an email or comparison shopping, for example.

When arranging two windows side-by-side, we noticed in practice that this scenario frequently involved snapping the first window and then spending time wading through other windows on screen to find the second one to drag and snap. This insight lead us to ask: instead of making you hunt for the second window to snap, why not present a list of recently used windows up front? This is the fundamental idea behind Snap Assist in Windows 10.

Snap Assist significantly speeds up the process of snapping two windows side-by-side by offering you a choice of windows to snap. Through our Windows Insider Program, we’ve seen that 90% of the time, users have chosen to take advantage of this improvement and pick the second app directly from Snap Assist rather than hunting for it manually. Snap Assist also has a number of related benefits. For example, just like Task View, it makes it easier to use the desktop with touch and comes in handy as part of Continuum.______________________________________

I found it heartening, for the reasons given above, but I also found it depressingly obtuse, because the quote above illustrates a mentality that is so far behind the times as to be apparently ignorant of users' needs. Depressingly, it has apparently taken the designers several years to realise that users actually might want to "choose any two windows and easily snap them side-by-side — a very handy feature...", and even more depressingly that they give as an example "... when drafting an email or comparison shopping". I'm almost (but not actually) surprised that they didn't write something like "when comparing a Pinterest post with a Facebook post" - or something equally facile.

The requirement to do such a side-by-side comparison predates Aero Snap in Win7 by several years, originating in early Windows stone age OS limitations. For example, I recall using a free ZDNet proggy in Win3.1 (I think it was) that conveniently popped up 2 Windows Explorer windows, stuck together side-by-side, because, well, a lot of people really needed to be able to do that, and it was a darn sight easier to use the freeware proggy than open two separate Windows Explorer instances and try to juggle their two windows side-by-side and keep the two windows ON TOP at the same time. Sheesh.

Even worse, the article says "For example, just like Task View, it makes it easier to use the desktop with touch and comes in handy as part of Continuum." The implication being that designers may have been still oblivious to the gaping need on the Desktop until they perceived an ergonomic dysfunction vis-à-vis the new technology touch screens and the new "Continuum" product.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I am very pleased that some awareness of real user needs for good ergonomics seems to be permeating the conciousness of designers. It's a veritable milestone. I am incredibly excited at the prospect of being more easily able to compare my fav Pinterest posts with my fav Facebook posts, or something.

IainB: Do you write for a magazine, newspaper, website, or blog? I ask because you ALWAYS post huge walls of text (I'm not bitching here) that contain huge amounts of information...and I feel like you should be writing for $$$ lol

IainB: Do you write for a magazine, newspaper, website, or blog? I ask because you ALWAYS post huge walls of text (I'm not bitching here) that contain huge amounts of information...and I feel like you should be writing for $$$ lol

Done! From Mouser's little idea from a while ago, I just gave him $2 in CodyBucks! Because underneath "huge walls of text" is ... thoroughness ... which matters when a "secure data service" threatens to nuke your data on day 96 if you don't "log in and look at it".

The requirement to do such a side-by-side comparison predates Aero Snap in Win7 by several years, originating in early Windows stone age OS limitations. For example, I recall using a free ZDNet proggy in Win3.1 (I think it was) that conveniently popped up 2 Windows Explorer windows, stuck together side-by-side, because, well, a lot of people really needed to be able to do that, and it was a darn sight easier to use the freeware proggy than open two separate Windows Explorer instances and try to juggle their two windows side-by-side and keep the two windows ON TOP at the same time. Sheesh.

There are two new features that are really nice with Aero Snap in Windows 10: the aforementioned side-by-side "helper," (which I cancelled most of the time, making me part of "the 10%" in the article cited, I guess) and also, windows can now snap to corners—they take up ¼ of the screen in this mode. In fact, I went almost a whole day before I installed WinSplit Revolution on my PC

Before I used Compiz Grid (which was based upon WinSplit), I used a small utility that "snapped" windows to one another, and to the screen edge. Pretty handy.

@Stephen66515: Nice of you to notice. All donations/contributions/credits gratefully accepted. Thankyou in anticipation.In answer to your query:

My notes: Actually, I tend to write notes about things because I have trained myself to do that to focus my concentration on what I am involved in or doing, and because that is when and how I do most of my recording of events and thinking - that is, when I am writing and trying to articulate some meaning. The notes are useful because I can't remember everything that I do or think, so the notes act as an aide memoire. My intention is to articulate and communicate useful information and sense (rational meaning) so that I or others would be able to read it later and make some use of it, and perhaps gain from it.

Payment for writing: I effectively get paid for my writing in those cases when my notes are included in a report for a client about a complex problem resolution, or something - where it is important that everything that needs to be mentioned is adequately dealt with in a rational, thorough and objective manner (no opinions).

Level of detail: When I keep the notes to myself they are usually in abbreviated form, and others may never see them. However, when I put them into a report, or blog or forum in an attempt to make a useful contribution, then I will expand them and write in much more precise and factual terms that are self-contained and (hopefully) lucid. Any references I give help towards that end, and are usually already in my abbreviated notes.

@TaoPhoenix: Sir, you are a scholar and a gentleman.

@ayryq: Thanks for all the links - interesting, and could be useful. Not sure about Win95 functionality - I think I might have skipped using that one, or only used it for a short while.

So Windows 10 is on the way and those of you who own a genuine license for either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will be getting the free upgrade on the 29th of July. However, Microsoft had not fully detailed exactly which version of the operating system you would be upgrading to until now.

On a new Windows 10 question and answer page, Microsoft tried to answer quite a few common questions about the upcoming upgrade, including details on exactly which version of Windows 10 users will be receiving, as there are quite a few, which we have reported on previously.